The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (2025) on Netflix
PG20251h 28mAdventureAnimationComedyFamilyFantasy
SpongeBob SquarePants is too afraid to ride a roller coaster he has finally grown tall enough for. He follows the Flying Dutchman, a ghost pirate, to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb5.7/109,646 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes81%
Trailer
Plot summary
SpongeBob SquarePants finds he is tall enough at last for an intense roller coaster, but he is too frightened to get on, and he longs for the courage of Mr. Krabs, who claims he was a swashbuckler in his younger days. In a hidden basement of pirate relics, SpongeBob accidentally calls up the Flying Dutchman, a ghost pirate. The Dutchman invites SpongeBob and Patrick Star to join his crew, promises to teach SpongeBob swashbuckling, and names a set of dangerous trials he must complete. Mr. Krabs, sorry for having told SpongeBob he lacks bravery, sets off after the pair, taking Squidward Tentacles and Gary the Snail along.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (2025)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Search for SquarePants began as a direct-to-streaming film centered on Mr. Krabs, made alongside the franchise's Netflix character movies Saving Bikini Bottom and Plankton: The Movie. After Paramount executives read the first draft, it was reworked into a theatrical feature with SpongeBob as the lead.
- Mark Hamill voiced the Flying Dutchman in the film, taking over from Brian Doyle-Murray, the character's long-time voice actor in the television series. The recasting was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024.
- Ice Spice recorded an original song, "Big Guy", for the film, released in November 2025, but the track is not included on the film's soundtrack.
- Director Derek Drymon told Reel FX Animation to avoid hyper-realistic or 2D-mimicking CGI, taking inspiration from 1960s plasticware and toys for a look he considered more handmade and truer to SpongeBob.
- The film's visual palette drew on live-action films including Sam Raimi's and the Coen brothers' work, Pirates of the Caribbean and Three O'Clock High (1987); head of story Mark O'Hare said the team was making fun of those movies while also honoring them.
